Survey: bad mobile apps color user judgment of all apps

A sizable chunk of mobile app users are dissatisfied with most of the apps …

As anyone who has released a mobile device app knows, it can be difficult to make your users happy. In fact, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of EffectiveUI, almost four in ten users are dissatisfied with most of the apps that are currently available from their favorite companies, and many will carry that negative perception with them when they make future decisions about those brands.

According to Harris' survey of 781 mobile-app-using adults, 38 percent reported being unsatisfied with most of the apps that they use. 32 percent said that they had told others about their bad app experiences (29 percent downloaded apps based on their friends' good experiences), and 69 percent said that a negative app experience leaves them with a bad perception of that brand.

Indeed, a bad app experience doesn't just color the user's judgment of that particular brand. 13 percent said they had avoided downloading apps from other brands due to a previous bad experience with a different app. Basically, the bad apps are ruining things for everyone.

Still, just over three-quarters of the group agreed that all brand-name companies should have mobile apps available, and that the app should be easier to use than the company's website. Users also think apps should to do exactly what they want (or else why would they download it?) and do so in a well-designed manner.

This shouldn't come as much of a shock, but a company's name alone won't carry an app into happy-feeling territory. As it turns out, companies have to put a little effort into it so that the users are happy. "The results of our survey are quite telling, and further proof that organizations must invest more in the user experience of their mobile apps, rather than rely solely on the brand," EffectiveUI CEO Rebecca Flavin confirmed.

On that note, which companies or brands do you think offer the most useful apps for your favorite platform? Which ones could use some serious UI or functionality improvement?